Turkey demands removal of US envoy

International Desk: Turkey has called for the removal of the US diplomat coordinating an international coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Syria and Iraq, accusing him of backing Syrian Kurdish fighters.

The Turkey's foreign minister has reportedly suggested the US to remove the Presidential Special Envoy for the counter-ISIS global coalition Brett McGurk over what he has described as support to the Kurdish ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria.

In an interview with Turkish NTV channel, Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Trump administration should change McGurk as he openly supports the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) affiliated PYD.

Cavusoglu blamed the Obama administration for not being responsive to repeated calls from Ankara to stop supplying the Kurdish led forces in Syria with arms.

"The new US administration is more sincere than the previous one," Cavusoglu said.

McGurk, American diplomat, was appointed by the former US president Barack Obama in October 2015 as Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS.

McGurk has close relations with the Kurdistan Region parties and has held many meetings with Kurdish authorities until recently, notably on the fight against ISIS.

And as the first known visit of a senior US official to Syrian territory, he visited Kurdish forces in Kobane in Rojava last February.

Highlighting the Turkish President's visit to the US, Cavusoglu described his meetings as productive which would help develop ties between Washington and Ankara.